


To the Ends of the Earth

by romeoandjulietyouwish



Series: Lis Writes Mighty Nein [12]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Drowning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Near Death Experiences, Romance, Slow Dancing, Waltzing, but it's dnd so not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28641138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romeoandjulietyouwish/pseuds/romeoandjulietyouwish
Summary: A romantic moment between Jester and Fjord is interrupted by Uk'otoa's devotees.
Relationships: Fjord/Jester Lavorre
Series: Lis Writes Mighty Nein [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026874
Comments: 13
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TW: drowning, dying (temporarily)

Jester lays on her back on the deck of the ship, staring up at the clear blue sky above. The gentle rocking of the ship could almost lull her to sleep if it wasn’t for the crew yelling around her and her friends’ loud voices as they talk. Ordinarily, Jester would be right there with them, causing as much havoc as she can, but right now she is just enjoying the peace. 

That is until Beau walks past her and harshly taps her stomach with her foot. 

Jester groans, and curls on her side, “Why?” She moans as Beau laughs. “That was very rude.”

Beau shrugs, “Come on. I convinced Yasha to play something for us.” 

Jester’s eyes widen in excitement. Yasha hardly ever plays for them, despite how much Jester begs. “Really?” 

Beau nods and starts walking to the main deck of the ship, Jester scrambles to her feet and follows Beau immediately. There she sees Yasha sitting on a crate, her harp resting in her lap, gently strumming some of the strings as everyone gathers around. 

Jester stands between Caleb and Beau, gripping the monk’s arm in excitement. Yasha takes a deep breath, pointedly avoiding eye contact. As she settles and gets ready to play, Orly strides over.

“If I m-might join you?” Orly lowers himself onto the crate next to her with a grunt, lifting his bagpipes to his lips. Yasha nods, looking a little more relaxed. 

Yasha begins the melody, playing something simple and beautiful, after a few measures, Orly joins in on top, driving the melody faster. Somewhere behind them, another crewmate pulls out a violin and starts to play with them. Yasha smiles over at him. 

The song they play is nothing like the music Jester’s mother sang in the Chateau or like the music that played when they danced in Rexxentrum. It reminds Jester of the music she would hear when she would sit at her window and listen to sailors sing as they loaded off the ships. The music is harsher, more repetitive, and not as rehearsed. She loves it.

The music makes her want to dance, so she does. Jester grabs Caleb’s arm and drags him to dance with her in the middle of the group. He lets out a noise of surprise but lets her pull him. To her joy, Fjord does the same with Beau who groans but goes along. The sounds of their feet stomping on the deck matches the beat of the music as the sailors laugh and cheer them on. Neither Caleb nor Jester quite knows how to dance to this kind of music, but they let the music guide them through quick steps and turns. They swing around the deck of the ship, Jester can’t keep the smile off her face. 

When the song is finished, Jester is a little dizzy and it takes her a second to catch her breath, Caleb steadies her as she does. They all applaud the trio, showering Yasha in compliments as she blushes. 

Jester turns to Caleb, “Thank you for dancing with me.” She stands on her toes to kiss his cheek. 

“Yeah...yeah of course,” Caleb smiles at her breathlessly. She squeezes his arm and runs off to where Yasha is talking to Orly.

That night, Jester finds herself restless. She tosses and turns in her bed for what feels like hours, unable to get comfortable. Eventually, she sighs and pulls on her shoes, donning a robe over her nightgown. Jester gets up quietly so she doesn’t disturb the people sleeping around her and creeps up to the deck of the ship for some fresh air. 

There are a few people on the deck working, but most everyone is getting some rest down below. It’s quiet now, peaceful. She tightens her robe around herself to shield against the cold of the night. In the darkness, Jester spots someone leaning over the railing, looking out at the water. 

As she steps closer, Jester realizes that it’s Fjord. Like her, he’s in his pajamas with his shoes and jacket on. His shoulders are hunched as he leans on the railing, but his head is tipped up, looking at the sky. To her, Fjord looks like one of the men on the covers of the romantic novels, doused in blue moonlight. She waits a second before approaching him, just in case he’s praying. But as she observes him, his hand is not touching his holy symbol and he doesn’t seem to be talking, so she deems it alright for her to talk to him.

“Want some company?” Jester asks as she approaches.

He looks over to her and smiles, “Always.” She leans against the railing with him. The water below them looks almost black. Around them there’s nothing but water and a few clouds overhead that blot out the stars. But the moons still shine brightly down on them, nearly full at this time of the year. Fjord looks over at her, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” Jester sighs, “Just couldn’t sleep.” 

“Me either.” They fall into a comfortable silence, Jester leaning slightly against Fjord’s arm. After a minute or so, Fjord looks at her again, “You looked like you were having fun dancing today.” 

Jester grins, “I did! We should do that more often. I think it would make Caleb really happy.” 

“I’m sure it would,” Fjord smiles. 

After a moment, she looks up at him, “When you were on the ship, did you ever dance like that?” 

Fjord shakes his head, “Not really. We sang more than we danced.” 

“Sang?” 

Fjord nodded, “Yeah. We would sing to keep in time with each other when we raised or lowered the sails and sometimes just to pass the time. But when we went to port, some of the other sailors-”

“The seamen.”

“Jester.” Fjord sighs good-naturedly. Jester giggles and bumps into his shoulder. She gestures for him to continue. “They would go to dance halls sometimes. I would tag along when they let me and they would dance much slower; like we did in Rexxentrum. Some of them were actually quite skilled. I didn’t ever dance, but I loved watching them. It was...entrancing.” 

Jester smiles at the image, “That sounds lovely.”

“It was.” There’s a moment of silence, before he turns completely to her, his eyes alight. “Jester, would you like to dance?” 

“Right now?” He nods. “Okay.” Jester smiles softly as Fjord’s hand falls to her waist, pulling her close to him. She settles her hand on his shoulder as he takes her other hand, giving it a light squeeze and they begin to dance. 

Unlike in Rexxentrum, Fjord leads this time. It’s a simple waltz, just a box step. There’s no music, but they don’t need it. It makes it all that much better just to hear their shoes on the wood and the waves surrounding them. Fjord lifts their hands to turn her under his arm. Jester giggles a little, feeling so much like one of the princesses in the books she’s read about. She imagines herself in a dazzling ball gown and Fjord in a neatly pressed suit, waltzing around a large ballroom.

But she quickly drops that fantasy. Real life is so much better, much more romantic. 

When she finishes the turn, he holds her back in his arms. Fjord’s eyes are a little squinty, just like Frumpkin’s are when he’s happy. She feels in her soul that it’s time to tell him, to bare her feelings before him, and hope he feels the same way. 

She doesn’t even realize they’ve stopped dancing until Fjord drops her hand to cup her cheek. He kisses her gently and she can feel his tusks poking her lip. Jester smiles against his mouth as she brings both her hands up to wrap around his neck. They pull apart slightly but are still pressed close together. 

“Fjord,” Jester says softly looking up into his eyes, “I lo-” 

Jester is cut off by excruciating pain through her torso. She cries out and stumbles back, looking down at herself. It takes her a second to understand what she’s looking at; pierced through her stomach is a spear with five barbs, all hooked deep into her skin. She looks back up at Fjord with a terrified expression and sees his eyes wide and fearful. “Fjord-” Jester is cut off once again as the spear yanks her backward with incredible strength. The hooks dig even deeper into her, forcing another cry of pain from her. 

They had only been a few feet away from the railing of the ship and with another awful pull of the spear, she finds herself yanked off the ship.

Jester screams again as she falls off of the ship and into the freezing water below. The last thing she hears before she sinks below the surface is Fjord shouting her name. Whatever is pulling her starts to move beneath the surface, pulling her rapidly away from the ship and all of her friends. She can’t see what’s pulling her, her own blood and panic are clouding her vision, not to mention that the water is almost black around her. Before she can start to breathe, Jester clamps her lips together. She has very little air in her lungs, she has to conserve it as long as she can.

She futilely reaches for the spear to try to get it out of her. The barbs are deep and get deeper with every second she is dragged. The pain is unbearable, but Jester forces herself to stay calm and fight. She reaches down and desperately tries to digs the hooks out of her, cutting her fingers on the sharp edges. She doesn’t have access to any spells that would be able to help her right now. The more she struggles, the more air she uses up. So she stops fighting. 

Jester can’t get out of this by herself, she has to hope that her friends will come to save her. But she can no longer see the ship in the dark and cloudy water. And the thing dragging her isn’t slowing down in the slightest. Even if the ship isn’t currently being attacked, there’s a very slim chance that her friends will be able to rescue her before she either bleeds out or drowns. If they’re able to find her in the first place. 

She’s going to die. 

She thinks of her mother and Bluud, both waiting for her to come home. What will they think when all of her friends return without her? She thinks of Kiri who she promised to visit soon, Calliana whose letters she has to return. She thinks of her friends. Caleb dancing with her, Beau teasing her like an older sister, Veth making dirty jokes with her, Caduceus pulling her into a hug after a battle, Yasha showing her how to press flowers. At least she got one last happy day with them. She thinks about Fjord and the first time he kissed her, breathing into her lungs as she drowned. 

He’s not here to save her now. 

Jester clasps her holy symbol between her hands and says a silent prayer to the Traveller to look out for her friends, her mother, everyone she knows. She asks him to watch over them and protect them in her absence. And she says goodbye to Artagen, unsure if he can even hear her as her lungs start to scream. 

She sees something in the distance, something coming quickly towards her, its shape clouded by the darkness. She can’t tell if it’s a friend or foe. Her lungs ache and she is forced to take a gulp of water, the saltwater filling her lungs instead of air and she starts choking. The form in front of her becomes clear as it gets just a little bit closer. It’s Fjord. If she can just hold on until he gets to her, he’ll save her. She knows he will. But Fjord is still a few meters away when her vision starts to go dark. She tries to reach out to him, but as she does, the last little bit of air she had is gone, replaced by freezing water. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thank you so much for reading this! Just so you know if you're a fan of my writing, I'm probably going ot be posting significantly less for the next few months because both of my parents got covid, it's nearing the end of the semester, AND tonight I begin the virtual play I am directing so...
> 
> it's a lot

As he swims through the dark water, all Fjord can feel is fear. 

Fear that he won’t be able to find Jester, that he’ll be too late, that _he_ has hold of her. As soon as Jester had been pulled from the ship, he raised the alarm as he dove in after her. As he jumped he cast a spell on himself, allowing him to breathe underwater. Jester doesn’t have that luxury and he’s running out of time, he knows he is. 

He swims in what he hopes is the right direction based on the way she had been pulled. But with the darkness, it’s hard to see through the water even with his dark vision. It feels like he’s making no progress whatsoever. 

And then he sees her. 

She’s struggling to hold her breath, eyes wide in fear. The force of the creature pulling her makes her legs push out but her arms are up by her chest, her hands tight around her holy symbol. The hooked spear in her stomach looks significantly worse than it did, it’s torn almost completely through her with blood filling the water. Fjord doesn’t even want to think about the creatures in this water that might be attracted to the smell of blood. Jester catches sight of him at that moment and starts to reach for him. But she’s drowning, choking on the water. 

He pushes himself as fast as he can towards her. But it’s not fast enough. 

Fjord is only a few feet away from Jester when her eyes drift closed and she stops reaching for him, her arm sinking down into the water. Panic starts to well up in his chest. He’s seen her die before, but it was never his fault as much as it is now. It pushes him to swim even faster. If he wastes even a second, he could lose her in the darkness with how fast the creature is swimming. He makes one final push and grabs on to her shoulders. Ignoring how limp she is in his grasp, he tries to lift her up to the surface, but the barbed spear is still stuck inside of her. Shit. 

He’s suddenly thankful that she’s unconscious as he uses all of his strength to pull Jester towards him and off of the spear. Her blood clouds the water around them. He forces all the fear from his mind, Jester needs him right now. Holding her close with one arm, he starts to swim towards the surface where he can see the moonlight refracted by the water. 

As he swims, he dumps all of the healing magic he can into her body, the verdant magic of the Wildmother surrounding her body. The magic closes the wound a little bit but does nothing to wake her up. He just tightens his grasp on her and tries to swim as fast as he can. 

Not soon enough his head breaches the surface of the water and he takes a gasping breath. He lifts Jester out of the water as well, but she doesn’t breathe. 

He takes a quick look to get a bearing of his surroundings, spotting the ship quite a ways away. He has to make it back to Caduceus in less than a minute, he doesn’t know what will happen if he doesn’t.

Fjord just starts swimming as fast as he can back towards the ship. It’s hard to swim in the ocean in general, it’s even harder when dragging a dying tiefling. It’s so slow, but it’s all he can do. 

He keeps his eyes on the ship, wishing not for the first time that he could cast one of the message spells Jester and Caleb have. He’s almost certain that their friends are facing some foe on the boat, Uk’otoa’s servants don’t travel alone. 

Then he sees someone jump off the ship into the air and a split second later, he sees a great big eagle flying through the air, blotting out the stars and the moonlight. He stops swimming, knowing it must be either Caleb or Caduceus, and shoots an Eldritch Blast into the sky. The light draws the eagle’s attention and its head snaps to look at him. Fjord treads water, holding Jester as best he can while he does. The eagle flies quickly towards them, not slowing down as it approaches. It dives down and snags Fjord and Jester in its talons, immediately pivoting to fly back to the ship. 

As they fly, Fjord can start to see his friends on the ship, their weapons glinting in the moonlight. It doesn’t seem to have been a terrible battle and when the eagle lands on the deck, Fjord sees Yasha tossing corpses over the side of the ship while Veth wipes a bit of blood from her brow. 

The second they touch down on the ship, Fjord shouts, “Caduceus!” The eagle steps back and shifts back into Caleb, who’s eyes go wide at the sight of Jester’s body in front of him. He stumbles involuntarily back as Fjord pulls Jester’s head into his lap. Her skin is ice cold against his hands. 

Caduceus bounds over to them, quickly followed by the rest of the party. All of their faces contort in horror as they realize what’s happened. The firbolg kneels down by Jester’s side. “How long has she been dead?” Caduceus asks, reaching into the satchel at his hip. 

“I-I don’t-” Fjord stutters. 

“More than a minute?” Caduceus demands quickly. 

“It took me twenty five seconds to fly them back here,” Caleb supplies, leaning on Beau, his face pale. “It’s been over a minute.” Beau swears loudly. 

“What does that mean?” Fjord asks desperately. 

Caduceus stands and pulls a piece of chalk out of his bag. “It’s a longer ritual, more components, and has a much larger chance of failing.” Caduceus begins to draw runes around Jester’s body. Fjord knows he should be helping, but he can’t find it in himself to leave Jester. He smoothes her wet hair out of her face and looks anywhere other than the wound in her stomach. There’s a strange sort of ache in his chest, like a puzzle missing a piece. 

As Caduceus sets up the ritual, he explains what they have to do. They have to make three offerings to Jester’s soul, something that will entice her to return back to the material plane. When Caduceus finishes drawing the runes, he kneels by her side and looks up at the group. “Whoever wants to make the first offering…?” 

Everyone slowly looks at Fjord who nods and takes a breath. 

With trembling hands, he strokes his thumb against her cheek. “Jester...I need you to come back to me.” He looks down at her with shining eyes. “You once told me that sometimes the most beautiful things can hurt us the most. You were right.” He takes another shaky breath and a sad smile crosses his face. “We agreed that after this we’d take some time, just the two of us. You remember? We’d go to Port Damali and travel the coast. I can’t do that alone.” Fighting back tears, Fjord moves his thumb across her cheek again. “I should have told you sooner, I should have told you weeks ago. I love you, Jester,” he whispers and presses his forehead to hers. “Come back to me.” As the last word leaves his lips, a portion of the runes lights up with dark green light. 

Fjord quickly looks at Caduceus. Caduceus nods, “It’s working. Who’s next?”

Caleb steps forward, away from the supportive hand Beau had on his shoulder. He stands over Jester and with a wave of his hands conjures a whirl of pink, purple, and dark green mist around them. It shimmers as shapes begin to take form, unicorn hamsters, swirled lollipops, and pastries surround Jester, floating above her head. Caleb whispers something in Zemnian under his breath. 

After a moment or two, the second set of runes lights up. 

Caduceus looks around at them, “Last one.” 

“I’ll go next, if that’s okay,” Yasha says quietly. Caduceus nods. She pulls her harp out of the bag of holding and sits on the deck next to Jester. She takes a long breath, closes her eyes, and begins to play. The soft notes seem loud on the silent deck. Fjord recognizes it immediately, it’s the song that Yasha and the band had played earlier. He can picture Jester dancing with Caleb, her smile infectious as she skipped around them. 

When the song is done, the final set of runes lights up. 

They all wait with bated breath for something to happen. For a moment nothing does and then Jester starts coughing. Beau immediately pushes her on to her side and holds her there as she starts to violently cough up seawater. Fjord sags in relief, moving slightly away to give Jester some space. 

Caduceus rubs her back, “It’s alright, get it all out, you’re okay.” Jester keeps coughing until eventually, it stops. Beau lets her roll back onto her back and Fjord finds himself looking right into Jester’s eyes. He knows he must look like a mess with sopping wet hair and tear tracks down his cheeks, eyes red from both saltwater and crying, but she smiles up at him. He gently takes her hand, giving it a squeeze.

“Jester?” Yasha asks. Jester’s eyes tear away from Fjord’s as she looks to the barbarian. “How are you feeling?” 

“Cold.” The word comes out scratchy most likely from inhaling all that saltwater and then throwing it back up. “Why am I so cold?” 

“Dying will do that to you,” Beau crosses her arms, but her harsh demeanor doesn’t meet her eyes. 

“Here,” Caduceus takes off his coat and holds it out to her.

Jester groans a little as she starts to sit up. Fjord and Beau immediately reach out to help her. They help her pull on the coat and she sighs a little bit at the warmth. Fjord pulls Jester to lean against his chest so she doesn’t have to worry about staying upright. 

“You gave us quite the scare there,” Caleb says. 

“Glad you’re okay,” Beau squeezes her shoulder gently. Jester smiles up at the monk and lifts her hand to touch Beau’s. Beau immediately snaps her hand away, “Your hands are freezing!” 

“You both should change clothes,” Caduceus nods to Fjord and Jester. “It’ll do you no good to sit in wet clothes. I’ll make some food for everyone.” 

“Can I have hot chocolate?” Jester asks, her voice soft. 

Caduceus smiles at her, “Of course.” 

With that, they help Jester to her feet and all seven of them make their way below decks in silence. It doesn’t escape Fjord’s attention that everyone circles around Jester so she’s protected on all sides. When they get to the galley, Fjord and Jester split off from the group to head to where their beds are set up. Fjord sees Jester’s arms wrapped tight around herself under Caduceus’s coat. Water drips from both their clothes. 

After a moment Jester says, “Thank you for saving me.”

Fjord just shakes his head, “You don’t need to thank me for that, Jester. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Jester grabs his bicep to stop him, her hand is freezing cold. She steps in front of him so that he is forced to look at her and stop walking. “I mean it. Thank you.” She stands on her toes to kiss his cheek. 

Fjord smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. The memory of Jester drowning is still vivid in his mind. But he needs to be strong for her right now, so he puts his arm around her shoulders and starts to walk to their beds. He likes the feeling of Jester walking next to him, it helps remind him that she’s safe and alive. 

Their beds are all laid out next to each other in the room, with Jester and Fjord’s beds right next to each other. Their living situation allows no privacy. Fjord turns his back to Jester as he strips off his wet pajamas and pulls on dry clothes. He sheds his waterlogged boots in favor of thick wool socks. When he’s done, he sits on his bedroll, giving Jester more time to change and allowing himself a moment to break. 

Fjord combs a hand through his wet hair, shaking the ends to get the water out. So many thoughts cloud his mind, it’s nearly impossible to make sense of any of them. But the loudest ones are the ones telling him that he could have prevented Jester’s death. He could have protected her better, he could have seen the creature coming or cast water breathing on her before she went underwater. He should have swam faster.

Alternatively, he thinks of what would have happened if Jester had gone up to the deck and he hadn’t been there. She could have been taken off the boat with no one being the wiser. And that thought is more terrifying than all of them. 

He came so close to permanently losing her. What would happen if he did?

“Fjord?” A hand lands on his shoulder and he looks behind him to see Jester. Her wet hair is braided back and her soaking wet and bloody clothes have been replaced by a second set of pajamas and bunny slippers. 

Jester lowers herself onto the bed beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and her arms wrap around him. Fjord takes a deep breath and puts an arm around Jester’s waist, tugging her a little closer. Wordlessly, Jester takes Fjord’s hand and presses his fingers to the pulse point in her wrist. He can feel her strong heartbeat. 

“I’m alright, Fjord,” she whispers. “You saved me.” 

Fjord doesn’t respond. Jester starts to rub soothing circles into his back. He just focuses on her heartbeat under his fingers. 

“This is backward,” he says after a moment. He turns to face her. “I should be the one taking care of you right now.”

Jester shakes her head, “I hardly remember any of it. Dying makes your brain all foggy.” They sit for another moment in silence. “I heard you, you know.” Fjord looks down at her in confusion. “I heard what you said to bring me back.”

“You did?” His eyes widen a little bit. It’s not that he didn’t mean them, he absolutely did. He’s more worried that she’ll think it’s too soon or that it was the wrong time. 

She nods, and her smile turns teasing and she leans back against his shoulder, looking up at him with her big eyes, “You looove me!” 

Fjord laughs a little, but his voice is nothing but serious when he says, “I do. I love you, Jester.” 

The tone of his voice makes her stop laughing and look up at him with a gentle smile. “I love you too. That’s what I was going to tell you before…” She trails off, looking down at her hands, but Fjord knows what she means. 

“Can I kiss you?” Fjord’s voice gets impossibly quiet as he asks that.

“You don’t have to ask anymore, silly,” Jester tells him as she turns her body completely to face him. With one cold hand on his cheek, she leans up and presses a kiss to his lips. When she starts to pull away, Hh pulls her closer by her waist and kisses her again. 

After a moment, Fjord leans back, “The others will be looking for us. Plus I think Caduceus promised you some hot chocolate.” 

Jester smiles and jumps to her feet, offering him a hand which he gladly takes. Hand in hand they walk back up to the galley and to their friends. Though the events of the day will surely weigh on their minds for some time, at least for right now they are content with each other’s company and their love for each other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and thank you especially to those of you that commented on the first chapter and helped me decide which pov to write this in!
> 
> Tumblr- @romeoandjulietyouwish

**Author's Note:**

> The goal is to have the next chapter up sometime before the new episode airs but we'll see if that happens. Also let me know if you think the next chapter should be Fjord or Jester's POV because I have both drafted but I don't know which one I should use :)
> 
> Comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated and keep me motivated!
> 
> Tumblr- @romeoandjulietyouwish


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